New Delhi, April 7: Talks between India and Pakistan on starting a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad will not begin tomorrow, as scheduled, but no reason was given for the postponement.

“After mutual consultations, technical-level talks on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service scheduled for April 8-9, 2004, have been postponed. Fresh dates would be worked out through diplomatic channels,” a terse two-line official announcement said today.

A similar statement was issued by the Pakistan foreign office.

Although neither side was willing to give any reason for the postponement, it is learnt that the complex issue of road links between the two Kashmirs needs enormous preparatory work on both sides. With India’s political leaders busy campaigning for the polls, it was thought best to shelve the talks for the time being.

Last October, when Indian foreign minister Yashwant Sinha proposed a bus link between Srinagar and Muzzafarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to help people on both sides of the Line of Control, Pakistan foreign secretary Riaz Khokar was not enthusiastic.

There were murmurs from Islamabad about travellers using UN documents instead of regular passports for the journey. There was also a suggestion that neutral UN staff man the check posts. India rejected the suggestions. However, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali later softened Pakistan’s stand and said his country was ready to discuss the idea with India.

Considering the complications involved, the talks have been postponed. They are likely to take place only after the elections are over and a new government is in place in Delhi.

The issues of travel papers and customs formalities are more complicated when Kashmir is involved, but no one in the external affairs ministry is officially saying so.

“It’s all speculation as far as we are concerned,” a senior official said.

The two-day talks would have been of a very preliminary and technical nature. Officials from both sides were to discuss setting up of immigration points and rebuilding of roads and bridges along the route.